Sight
by TheNewIdea
Summary: This story begins with Iago the Parrot walking home with nothing only to walk away the next morning with absolutely everything. The rest, as they say, is all unimportant details. Rated T for being the straightest and truest thing to the words Love At First Sight as possible and seriousness. Written to test the emotional extremes of my version of a sympathetic Iago.


Sight

Iago the Parrot walked down the streets of Toon Town, returning from a long night of partying at Mickey's bar, the local nightclub. He was suffering a major migraine; his feathers reeked from alcohol and his attitude was even more bitter than usual, for tonight he was going home alone, then again, Iago went home alone every night, but this night was different. This night, Iago had hoped against hope that he would be able to find someone to take home, for he was tired of being alone.

There were many reasons why Iago was alone. When he was sober, the bird was pessimistic, angry and constantly complaining about the crap hands he had been dealt all his life, even when he was trying to fix it. Iago realized that the world didn't care, he realized that no matter what he did, wither it was saving Aladdin from the Monster of the Week, or going off on an amazing journey of self discovery where he comes out significantly better, he would never be appreciated for anything.

Half way to his destination, Iago heard the faint flapping of wings; at first he assumed that he had taken off without realizing it only to feel the ground between his feet. Stopping to take a look around, the flapping got increasingly more frantic, whatever it was, it was obviously terrified. Iago sighed and called out in the darkness, "Hello? Is anyone there?" The flapping increased, getting closer, Iago looked up to try and locate the source, but the lights from the surrounding buildings prevented him from seeing anything. "Hello?" he called out again, "Alright, you've had your fun. Come on out." it was that this moment that Iago was tackled to the ground.

Standing up, Iago correctly presumed that whoever it was that tackled him was the same someone who was making the flapping sound, for he distinctly heard it end just as he came to the ground. Looking to his right, the thing that had tackled was indeed a bird, from the look of it, it was injured. "You alright?" Iago asked, "Yeah" it answered, its voice unmistakably female, "I'm fine." Iago instinctively softened, for he knew how to talk to women, especially when it came to his own species. "What happened?" Iago pressed, "Did you break a wing or something?" The bird, which for the most part was in the darkness of the alley that Iago was in front of, apparently having crawled to its false safety that it provided, answered him, "I think breaking my wing is a bit of understatement don't you? I mean I did run you over."

Iago laughed nervously, playing off her nonchalant attitude and walked over, trying to pull the bird to her feet. As soon as he touched her wing, she immediately shied away, "Wait!" she cried "don't! It'll hurt!" Iago sighed, not really sure what to do and decided that the best course of action was to try and push her upright. This did nothing, for as soon as Iago got behind her and started pushing, she only proceeded to fall over in the opposite direction. "Come on!" Iago said encouragingly, "at least try to stand!" The bird nodded in compliance and pushed her up using her feet, which Iago doing his best to stable her. When she was finally up, Iago turned back to her front side, in order to get a better look.

At first glance, Iago could tell that like himself, she was a scarlet macaw. On her chest was flares of bright orange and a small tuft of yellow just before her neck, her wings were decorated in a similar manner. From this alone, Iago knew that she was beautiful, when he tried to find her eyes and was unable to; he noticed that they were closed. "Look at me" Iago said softly, partly in desperation and partly out of curiosity. "I can't" she answered, "Why not?" Iago asked. The bird sighed deeply, "Because I can't." Iago raised his eyebrows in confusion and extended his wing in greeting, hoping that she would open her eyes when he gave his name, "Iago at your service." The bird, with her eyes still closed, sighed deeply and answered him, "I'm Yolanda." Iago smiled as she put heavy emphasis on the L, letting her name roll off his tongue, forever etched into his memory with the image of a budded flower that only needs to open once to let the world see its beauty.

"Yolanda" Iago repeated, putting the same emphasis on the L that she had, "what a lovely name. But do you what would make it even better?" The bird shook her head but said nothing, allowing Iago to continue, "If you open your eyes." The bird shied away again, but before she could completely disappear into the alley, Iago grabbed her good wing and pulled her into the light of the streetlamp, accidently bringing her close up against his chest in an awkward embrace. To cover this up, Iago broke away before she could completely rest against him and had her simply stand in the subtle yellow glow of the streetlamp. In the light, Yolanda was even more beautiful than before, her small tuft of yellow and orange around her neck and on her wingtips stood out, leaving Iago breathless. It was as if this moment, was the moment that he needed to start the rest of his life, all he had to do was say the right thing.

Iago literally put his best foot forward and inched closer to her, but managed to keep a respectable distance, so not to push her away. "There" Iago began, "now you're in the light. Will you open your eyes now?" Yolanda shook her head, "I can't" she persisted. Iago laughed subtly, "Why not?" he asked, "I want to see the rest of you." Yolanda began to cry, "I just can't Iago! You'll think I'm a freak!" Iago scratched his head, "Come on" he said, "I'm not that kind of guy. I read the book before I give the critic. Now please...open your eyes, I promise I won't laugh, cry or run away okay?" This seemed to give Yolanda reassurance, so much so that she decided against her better judgment to open her eyes.

Yolanda's eyes were completely white. It took Iago a minute to realize what was wrong with her, she was completely blind. This did not faze Iago for even a second, for even if she had no eyes at all, he would still say that she was the most beautiful thing in the world. Granted it would definitely take some getting used to, but Iago figured that he would get past that if that was the case. Iago's face turned from one of wonder to one of warmth, kindness and a smile that said that Yolanda's blindness was not a deal breaker. Iago was so taken aback that he forgot to speak, causing Yolanda to assume that he had broken his promise and left. As a result, she began to cry again, this time it was louder and full of pain, "I knew it" she began, "Every time I look at someone they run away. Because I'm not like normal blind people...I wasn't born this way, I used to know what seeing was, I used to know. But now..."

Iago could think of nothing else to do, he was close to awkwardly embracing her to let her know that he was still standing there. But then fate presented an unexpected opportunity. It began to rain.

You how in some cases when it rains hard enough it causes blind people to see for a brief moment? Well such was the case of Yolanda. The second she saw Iago, still standing there, she cried, but these were a completely different kind of tears. "Y-y-you" was all she was able to say before Iago moved forward, now directly in front of her, "If I told you that you saved my life would you believe it?" he asked. Yolanda raised her eyebrows in confusion, "What are you talking about?" Iago smiled, "When I got home I was planning on-" Iago stopped himself, for finishing his sentence would ruin the moment, "It doesn't matter" he concluded, "all that matters is this."

Without a moment's hesitation, Iago kissed her. When he broke away, Yolanda had to blink several times in order to make sense of things. She sighed, "That was...interesting. I've never been kissed like that before." Iago gave a small laugh in response, "Me either" he answered. Yolanda shook her head, "Why did you do that?" she persisted. To this Iago gave the straightest answer, "Any man who didn't is an idiot. You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Yolanda looked herself over, "Really" she said, "I wouldn't know. What's beauty?" Iago, to this question, also gave a straight answer, "Beauty is an illusion." Yolanda laughed at this, "So I'm an illusion?" she replied, Iago returned her laugh at the same giving his explanation, "If you're an illusion" he began, "then the magician is God, for only he could create something that fell from the sky so gracefully."

That was enough for her, Yolanda smiled and returned Iago's kiss. In response, Iago embraced her, he told himself that he would never let go, even when the rain stopped ten seconds later, they still held that embrace. Both of them were dripping wet, overflowing with emotions both happy and sad, but neither of them cared for this night, this single night was the night that they had begun to see. Both of them knew that tonight their lives had been saved, and both of them knew that this was the person that they were going to share it with. As Iago broke the embrace, he stared into her eyes and smiled, for nothing more needed to be said.


End file.
